Published: March 11, 2009 03:19 pm      

Atwood claims district title, WHS 2nd; powerlifters now head to State Meet

WAURIKA — Cody Atwood won his division and joined teammates Zac Fletcher and Gus Porterfield in qualify for the state finals, when Waurika’s powerlifters competed Saturday in the Oklahoma Football Coaches Association Powerlifting District Meet.

Waurika had five competitors in the tournament at Anadarko, where the competition was divided into classes as well as small school/large school divisions. Mangum won the Class A team title, while the Eagles were third in that class.

In the final standings in the small school division, Mangum and Fox tied for first, with Waurika finishing sixth.

Bolstered by the winning lift in dead lift, sophomore Atwood won the overall title in the 242 pound division of 2A, by raising 1,160 total lbs. in the different lifts.

Although senior Fletcher had a bit of an off-day, he nonetheless finished as runner-up in the heavyweight division of 2A, with a total lift of 1,415 lbs. Fletcher had the outstanding squat thrust among all competitors in the tourney, and also won the squat and bench press among 2A heavyweights.

Porterfield qualified to go to state for the first time by finishing fourth in the 242 division, where he had a total lift of 1,110 lbs.

Those three Eagles earned automatic spots in the State Powerlift Meet at McLoud, and freshman Kevin Guzman may end up joining them. Guzman took ninth in the 220 division and coach Glenn Howard said, “That may be good enough for (Guzman) to qualify as an at-large choice. It depends on how much other lifters finished with at the other districts.”

Junior Matt Smith won the bench press in the 198 division, with a lift of 305 lbs., and was 13th all-around in that division.

“There were 25 to 30 kids in each of the weight classes, so our guys did pretty well. Zac didn’t lift as much as he has in the past, but he still has a good chance to win his division at state,” Howard noted. “I think all three of them who qualified have good chances to place.

“If we can get points from each of them in each lift, we’ll do well as a team. The winning team usually finishes 40 to 50 points, so if we can get in the 40s, we’ll finish high as a team.”